


falling like a leaf, falling like a star

by weasleyspotter



Series: Ward x Simmons Tumblr Prompts [12]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, so very very very AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:03:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2790971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weasleyspotter/pseuds/weasleyspotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grant Ward shouldn't like Jemma Simmons. He doesn't. Really, he doesn't. </p><p>But he does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	falling like a leaf, falling like a star

**Author's Note:**

> It's my Birthday and really I shouldn't be writing, but I got this prompt in the morning and it kind of warms my heart when people randomly send me prompts, especially anons. But anyway, here you go, Anon! You asked for Grant getting turned on by Jemma's accent, and I kind of touched on that. 
> 
> Kind of.

*

Grant Ward knows how to fake a turn on.

It’s one of the things that they teach him in school. How to dilate his pupils, to make his heart rate quicken, to make himself (or at least that person) believe that the person trying to seduce him for some reason or the other is actually doing a good job.

When Jemma Simmons opens her mouth for the first time, shoving a swab in his mouth, spouting science, he accurately recognizes the way his pulse quickens at her touch and his stomach swoops at her voice.

(The accent turn on is such a cliche that he instantly pushes away any thought of her.)

So when she asks if he’s excited to join their journey into mystery.

He deadpans, “Like Christmas.”

*

Despite everything Clint tries, the one thing that Grant is abysmal at is people skills.

Of course this is only limited to Grant Ward. His covers have excellent people skills when need be, but ask him to be Grant Ward, the real Grant Ward, and he quickly clams up into a shell with scowl and one word answers.

So when he gets warm fuzzy feelings for the resident Biochemist, the only person who should truly understand him, laughs in his face.

(Of course not literally, his communication with his SO and Nat are on a severe need to know basis since his clearance change.)

Nat actually sends him an email which details how hard Clint is rolling on the floor laughing.

Naturally, he’s no better. He replies with a mostly childish email about how unhelpful the two of them are.

The thing that sticks with him is the line at the end of Natasha’s email, when she finally gets past all the taunting and ends on a somewhat sincere note.

_Just be yourself, idiot. And not your closed off stoic self. The real you._

The thing is? He doesn’t really know who that is.

*

He’s quiet about it in the beginning.

Skye rules him off as an emotionless robot, and complains about him frequently to Fitz and Simmons, and he knows that he’d be a fool to try and actively disprove her when he’s pretty sure she’s essentially accurate about him.

So he watches Jemma from afar, lingering around the lab when she’s the only one. Eventually she notices his presence and asks him if he needs anything.

He’s only grateful that the blubbering that ensued will never be heard by anyone, ever.

But really, he doesn’t plan on doing anything about her, not until she jumps out of a plane to save him.

(Not save him, per se. She jumps to save all of them. But he’s included in that, and it floors him.)

He’s put his live in the hands of others before. He’s worked with other specialists, and had to trust them with his lives constantly. But no one has ever taken a bullet for him, metaphorically speaking.

(Other than Clint and Nat, at least. And he just sort accepts that they seem to like him around, probably for the laughs.)

After Coulson’s briefing/scolding, in which Coulson gives him a stern look that could only be interpreted as if I wasn’t technically dead, I’d stick the Black Widow on you, he pulls her aside, and asks her why.

“Why what?” Her face scrunches in confusion.

He tries and fails not to notice how adorable that expression looks on her face. “Why did you jump?”

“Because if I didn’t,” she says so matter of fact, “I would have blown up the plane. And I couldn’t do that to you lot. Granted, I didn’t know that antiserum worked before I jumped, but I’d do it again in a heart beat.”

He doesn’t know what to say. He licks his dry lips and swallows thickly and says the only thing that comes to him. “I thought what you did was really brave.”

Her answering smile is brilliant.

*

The incident with the Berserker wipes him out, and he’s got the cuts and bruises to prove it.

Despite how messed up he feels, he really doesn’t expect May to call Natasha.

But he can’t deny that it’s a bit of a relief to see them striding up the ramp of the Bus, matching determined looks on their faces. Skye gives a little gasp of surprise from beside him, and he’s sure Coulson is hiding away upstairs. He wonders absently if May gave him a warning, or she thought that was another secret not worth keeping.

They barely speak as they flank him, leading him towards his tiny bunk that seems even smaller in the presence of Hawkeye and Black Widow.

They sit beside him, quiet. And in the beginning, he’s determined not to speak. It’s so very rare that they don’t push an issue, and he’s going to enjoy the silence. But before he can finish the thought, the story is spilling out of him.

Clint knows bits and pieces of Grant’s past, and Nat knows a bit more. But neither of them knew about the Well.

He sits in that awful silence that follows, wallowing in his own shame.

Slowly, Nat’s hand winds over his own, and Clint’s clasps over hers.

They don’t have to say the words, but he knows what they mean. And he’s never been more grateful for them.

*

Right before Natasha and Clint leave, after they smooth things over with Coulson, and while Clint is distracted by Coulson, Nat pulls him over.

“I like her,” she says simply, glancing over at the lab where Jemma is bustling around the lab, speaking to Fitz about something excitedly. "She's good for you." 

“Oh,” he tries to play off, though his gaze lingers on Jemma longer than necessary. He's awful at this business of pretending not to like her. He's almost surprised that no one has seen through him yet.

She smiles and shakes her head. “Don’t be an idiot,” she clasps him on the shoulder. “Be the real you,” she repeats her previous advice. “She likes you,” she adds finally in a whisper, before striding past him.

*

Inevitably, Skye gets a bit more respect for him when she figures out that Clint and Natasha are his SOs.

“The Black Widow and Hawkeye,” she asks him repeatedly over the next few weeks. “Can you please get them to introduce me to Captain America?”

He glares at her until she quickly backs down.

Fitz is a bit more subtle about his attempts and merely speaks to Grant at great length about how much he’d love to meet Doctor Banner, and if Grant ever got the chance, could he please just mention Fitz.

By the time, Jemma gets around, he’s thoroughly ready for whatever her request might be.

She surprises him though. Instead she smiles at him softly. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” he says a bit suspiciously, still expecting her question to be small talk.

“And the residual effects of the Berserker?”

His curiosity piques a bit at this. He’s slowly learning to control the anger. May and Nat help, and he takes their techniques to heart. But the anger that slowly simmers below the surface of him hasn’t completely been wiped away and it gnaws at him. “Better,” he admits.

“Oh good,” she relaxes against the couch a bit, her face smoothes out. “I’ve been working on the stick and looking through the notes on it, but I still haven’t quite come around any idea on how long these symptoms will persist or how to get rid of them.” Her face falls and she looks almost ashamed. “I’m sorry.”

He takes notice of the bags under her eyes and the way she seems to take the failure to heart. She was still trying to save him. Still.

He tentatively reaches out towards her, clasping a hand over hers. She doesn’t draw away, which he takes to be a good sign. “Thanks Jemma,” he says, a smile creeping onto his face. “But,” he pauses to search for the words, “you don’t have to-.”

She cuts him off. “I know I don’t have to. But I wanted to help you.”

Her kindness actually humbles him. It's strange to have someone care for him. He's had so few people in his life who actually care and he can't help but gravitate towards them. No wonder he was so taken with her, she cares. He hadn't known that she was trying so hard to help him, and he wants to make her feel better. He wants to make her smile. So he says the first thing that comes to mind.

“You do,” he blurts out. Immediately he has to resist the urge to clap his hands over his mouth.

“What?” She glances up at him questioningly.

Oh, what the hell. “Being around you,” he says slowly. “I feel the anger less.”

It’s a poor explanation, and Jemma looks as confused as he feels. But she doesn’t question it.

“Oh,” she says softly. “Okay then.”

And they leave it at that.

*

He’s properly outed on movie night.

Skye’s debating with Fitz on the validity of the claim that British accents as a turn on, which Skye supports, and Fitz protests. Skye suddenly whirls towards him and throws the question at him.

He almost unconsciously agrees with Skye, to everyone’s surprise, as they thought he would’ve pushed away the question as inappropriate.

That wouldn’t have revealed him, if it hadn’t been for the fact that he had been staring at Jemma like a lovesick puppy at the moment when he answered a resounding yes in response to Skye’s question.

Silence falls over the group as eyes bounce between a horrified look Ward and Simmons.

“Holy shit,” Skye exhales loudly.

*

Nat and Clint actually call him after they get his email about accidentally revealing his feelings for Jemma.

Their laughter echoes over the line, even after he holds the phone about a foot away from his ear.

*

He gets really good at avoiding Jemma, but eventually she corners him in the doorway of his bunk in the middle of the night.

She looks startled with her hand raised as the door slides opens to reveal her standing on the other side, like she had been expecting anyone else to be standing on the other side.

“I was about to knock,” she explains quietly, her outstretched hand dropping to her side limply.

“I-,” he starts, “I was just going to get something to eat,” he finishes, trying to sidestep her. But for a petite person, she manages to take up the entire doorway.

“We should talk.” She says, stopping him in his tracks..

He slouches a bit at her words and gestures to the bed. Might as well be comfortable while she tried to let him down gently.

Instead of taking the offered bed, she paces the room nervously. He gets a bit exhausted just looking at her, so he sits on the bed and tries to keep up with her nervous movement.

She stops suddenly and whirls towards him. “You like me?” She asks him, “Like really properly like me?”

Like is a juvenile word and he doesn’t think it accurately describe the swooping feeling in his stomach when he looks at Jemma, but he nods.

She resumes her pacing, mumbling under her breath. He barely catches the words, “I thought it was just me.”

They bring his brain to a halt.

“What was just you?” He asks curiously.

She flushes and stops. “Your feelings,” she says slowly. “They’re not one sided.”

It takes him a full moment to work out what she’s saying. And the feeling that feels his chest is indescribable. And maybe because of the elation that fills him, he’s a bit worse with words than he usually is. Because all he can say is, “Oh.”

“Oh?” She repeats, her face falling. “Oh good or oh bad?”

He’s always been horrible at expressing himself.

So he pushes himself of the bed and places his hands on the side of her face. He pauses for a moment to look at her eyes, the way her pupils dilate, her pulse quickens under his hands and she gasps quickly. Resisting the urge to smirk, he swiftly leans down and kisses her softly.

As he pulls away, he’s a bit breathless as he responds. “Oh good. Definitely good.”

*

(When he tells his SOs about Jemma and him all he gets in response is that Nat won the betting pool.)

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably be part of a larger series of drabbles with Clint and Nat as Grant's SOs. So hope you like this AU. Please comment and kudos if you enjoyed.


End file.
